(Eagle News) — Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno may have found an ally in Associate Justice Marvic Leonen.
On Wednesday, April 10, Leonen said that Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth were mere “tools” and “not a measure of integrity,” a conclusion he made after establishing that Sereno did not have the opportunity to “steal” from government coffers when she was on leave as a University of the Philippines professor from 2000 to 2006.
Leonen did this during oral arguments in connection with the quo warranto petition filed against Sereno.
“Integrity is not mentioned in terms of paper…,” he said.
Instead, he said “the measure of integrity is the ability of a justice not to be swayed from yellow, red, black or whatever political color.”
“If our measure of integrity is a piece of paper, then God help us,” he said.
Solicitor General Jose Calida filed the quo warranto petition against Sereno for her alleged lack of integrity when she supposedly repeatedly failed to file her SALNs.